Our Centenarian...

This past week, Mike's grandma, known to everyone around her community as Mammy, turned 100!  She is still an amazing, quick witted woman who lives alone.  Well, unless you count her rather large and spoiled Great Pyrenees!  Look how wonderful she looks...

And while I'm talking about great grandparents, I love that Kellen recently made this photo from last summer his face book profile picture. My grandpa will turn 95 this summer, and is holding his own. Kellen loves to spend time with his great grandfather, and spoke of wanting to be like him at his age. Those are some big shoes to fill!  So thankful my children get to experience so many years with their greats!

Weird Science....

For more than ten years we were off the hook for the Science Fair.  Now that the girls are in fourth grade, it was double the work! In the beginning stages, here's what we considered...

But alas, both girls came up with worthwhile projects, and in the end, we all enjoyed it. As parents, we decided to divide and concquer the projects.

Michael worked with Kaia to solve "What conducts better, salt or sugar?" It was great father/daughter time, and Kaia learned all about conducting electricity, volts, amps, etc., through her project with dad. She proved that salt is a better conductor by getting lights to brighten through salt laced play-doh.

Jaelyn wanted to personalize her experiment, so she asked "Can people born without their arm be dominant on the same side of their body of the limb difference?" With the help from many online acquaintances, she found that half the participants who tested their eye, ear, and foot preferences, did indeed show the missing limb side to be their more dominant side.  Thank you to those that helped out by participating in her experiment!

Yes, we all had fun and learned on the way, but we I am thankful that I am only obligated to one more year of the science fair. After that, they can pursue science to their heart's desire, but this mom will be watching from the sidelines (and thankful for my science teacher husband)!

The Telltale Signs of Spring...

March 20th has come and gone, marking the official start to spring. But around here, we have our own telltale signs of spring.

Our daffodils and dandelions are in bloom...

The lilac bush is budding...

Soccer, in the rain...

And of course, love is in the air...

I mean, Josh was home for Spring Break!  The rest of us are looking forward to ours in a week.

Retraction...

Remember last week when I posted that Joshua was heading to Texas for the national wrestling tournament? Well I have to say I am just as proud to say he made a very tough decision this past Friday, to pass on this opportunity so that he can focus on his midterms this coming week.  He has a very tough load of classes, and would have missed two midterms had he gone to the tourney.  Since he received one of the wild card invitations, he figured he has three more years to be able to qualify.  As excited as he was, I know he made a tough decision that he won't regret, as he remembers the main reason he is at college!  After his midterms it is Spring Break for him, so he will be back home shortly.

Here is the recap on Kaia's meet last weekend that I promised.  In her flight (which means against kids her age AND level) she took first place in all three of her events.  Overall, when compared against all kids at her level, regardless of age, she took two firsts and a second.  Not bad I say. Since we were with Josh, here's a couple photos the other mom shot of her.

State is coming up in just a couple weeks, so stay tuned...

Allen, Texas or Bust...

Last weekend we traveled to Central Washington University to watch Joshua wrestle at the NW Regional Conference wrestling tournament.  Was great to see him and cheer him on.

Joshua's groupies

Championship WSU Cougar wrestling team

Josh placed fourth in his bracket, but his team took the championship in just their second year in existence. Next they head to Allen, Texas for Nationals. The surprise news for Joshua yesterday is that someone wasn't able to go, which opened up another wild card position. He was asked to go, so will now be making the trip.  I don't know how that worked, but he's happy about it.  What a great experience it should be for him.

Here's a clip the school news channel did on them...



You may notice Kaia was not there. She was at her own meet. More on that later...

Minor Mishap...

Here's what Kaia discovered in our backyard this morning, after yet another windstorm last night.

That's our tree that pushed the fence down into our next door neighbor's yard. Check out the top of the tree...

It fell into a second neighbor's back yard. Fortunately the damaged was only to the one section of fence, which Mike and Kellen repaired this afternoon. Just in time, because the next windstorm is scheduled to start up in about an hour from now!

Seahawk Sweethearts!

This Valentine's Day the romantic in me got everyone Seahawk Superbowl Champions tshirts! Hey, don't judge me! The girls' ones were pink with hearts, so kept with the theme, and we all "love" our Hawks! Here's Josh showing us his from college...

A week ago I took the girls to a local pottery painting business so they could paint Mike some Valentine gifts. Here are some before and after shots.

Yep, Mike looks a little under the weather. He has quite the cough going on and seems to enjoy showing me what comes up with it. Thanks Babe! He is determined to run the Fort Ebey Kettle Run half marathon tomorrow. I am not sharing his enthusiasm, especially for the inch of rain that is predicted in the next 24 hrs.! Stay tuned for the outcome and photos....